Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 207: John’s Evil Plan!
John’s frustration over the high Mental Points cost per a single hack vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The traps at his base didn’t even have more than the basic setting, under pressure.
He realised that the Hiveminds likely hadn’t activated the seismic or acoustic triggers today to avoid accidental detonations from the upcoming battle against the Fog Seekers. It was safe to assume they were relying on a simple pressure setting.
"But the Mental Point cost is the bottleneck," he realised, looking at the limited Mental Points he had. "I can’t hack them all, what a waste! I’ll need to pick the shortest possible path to the Ogolith cores and evade the rest for now."
This was a rare, one-time chance. The next time he would enter this territory, the Hivemind wouldn’t be distracted, and these traps would likely be set to react to the slightest footstep or whisper.
It wasn’t just about gaining such precious traps, but it was also about limiting the future losses when invading this base. He needed a way to solve the cost problem, a way to recharge his Mental Points inside this territory. Realising this made him squeeze his mind, seeking a solution, still found none.
He made a conscious effort to evade the majority of the blue-hued traps, weaving through the minefield while lamenting losing such a big chance. However, the temptation was too great to ignore entirely. By the time he reached the looming silhouette of the fortification walls, he had successfully harvested twenty additional trap devices.
"They really didn’t expect anyone to hit this spot, do they?" John muttered, standing in the shadow of the massive metallic walls with gleaming eyes.
He stared up at the triple-layered walls, noting the total absence of defensive towers. It was a staggering display of overconfidence. The Hivemind clearly believed that they had no other enemy out there but the Bulltors. And they already hit them hard enough to safeguard against any retaliation from their end.
He also thought about the traps he met while getting here. It seemed they trusted the sheer lethality of their hidden minefield, thought it was more than enough to keep their cores safe. John couldn’t help but sigh; it was a bit painful to see how other races looked down on humans, on him.
Getting inside was an easy task for him, especially after the surge in his stats. He scaled the vertical surface with practised ease. Once he reached the top, he took a moment to survey the landscape.
To the east, the distant silver rim of the main Hivemind base flickered like a mirage. But as he began to turn away, a localised anomaly appeared in his Frame Recognition sight.
"Wait... What is that?"
Several kilometres to the south, a faint flickering of golden hue pulsed against the ground. At this distance, he couldn’t see anything clearly as all the code structures got blurred and mixed up. He quickly shifted his attention towards the map, but the spot he noticed using his ability showed nothing but a normal ground on the map.
Then, a realisation hit him like a lightning strike. He recalled the data he had gathered using Wireframe Sight on top of his map in the past couple of days. The Hiveminds’ code structure was predominantly golden, punctuated often by white and blue clusters that were signs for special abilities.
"So, that’s where they put them... The two thousand fallen from the fight against the Bulltors," John whispered, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.
He was aware that the Hiveminds lost two thousand of their numbers after fighting against the Bulltors. And yet he thought they left their fallen back inside the Bulltors’ territory. He never thought to find them here. "They buried them? That’s a bizarre move for a carnivorous collective."
It was common knowledge among the trial races that the Hiveminds typically recycled the fallen, consuming their bodies to fuel themselves. Despite John knowing better and way deeper about this fact, it was still looking weird for them to engage in a burial ritual, but for John, it was a godsend gift. It was the solution to every bottleneck he currently faced.
He looked down at the three big Ogolith Cores resting in the centre of the walled enclosure. He had a job to do here first.
"I don’t know exactly how many hours are left before the new Fog Seeker dens manifest," he said, a cold, evil smirk crossing his face. "So let’s ensure these are neutralised before the clock runs out."
John descended into the courtyard and approached the cores. He reached into his inventory and pulled out his Magical Core. He placed it in the centre of the three Ogolith spheres, watching as his core started to consume the three Ogolith cores, eating them away and deleting them from this territory.
This was the heart trick of his nightmare plan. By letting his magical core absorb the Hiveminds’ three Ogolith cores, he was going to force this territory to face something the Hiveminds never put in their consideration at all.
Based on his experience with the Wrathers tides at his own base, he knew that the absence of the Ogolith core acted as a trigger to invite them over. Instead of the manageable Fog Seekers waves the Hivemind expected, they were about to be hit by the deadly Wrathers.
On top of that, there were three Ogolith cores, which meant there were three different dens in the territory.
John knew if things went exactly like how it happened back at his territory, then three simultaneous yellow monster tides would be triggered at the same time. Which would turn the entire situation into a real nightmare for the Hiveminds.
"I’ll leave you here for now," John told his core, patting the pulsating crystalline surface. He couldn’t take it with him yet; the sudden disappearance of the cores might invite fog over, which most likely would trigger a high-level alert within the Hiveminds. By leaving his magical core behind, it would keep pushing the fog back, keeping the Hiveminds in the dark until the first Wrathers wave would appear.
He hopped back over the wall and began a high-speed sprint toward the golden burial site.
’Today is going to be an epic day,’ he thought, an evil sneer forming on his lips as he imagined the sight of this territory after perfecting his plan and collecting all the loot he could. And now his focus was settled over the buried Hiveminds at a distance, which was going to solve lots of problems for him.
First, he wouldn’t have to risk a direct confrontation with a Hivemind combat squad to secure the condition for the Blue Sacred challenge. He could simply scavenge a head from the burial site and present it to the Bulltors, saving himself the risk of exposing himself early on to the enemies, and the Mental Point expenditure of a full-scale battle.
Second, the burial site was a literal battery for him. By standing amidst the remains of two thousand fallen Hiveminds, he could use his MP Absorption ability to recharge his Mental Points to their absolute limit over and over.
This way, he could double back and harvest every single trap in the northwestern sector, depriving the Hiveminds of an important defensive piece, and gaining something valuable for the future.
If he were luckier, and those Hiveminds were doing this burial thing based on some sort of ancient ritual for their race, then he would find an additional pleasant surprise waiting for him there!
On top of all that, the incoming Wrathers and yellow monsters would keep the Hiveminds busy and pretty occupied for the next few days at least! And he didn’t even count the expected losses they would suffer, both in their overall fighting strength, numbers, and their defences and base!
